Madonna with child and saints
Moretto da Brescia, 1542
In the lower part of this altarpiece, the Archangel Michael leads a kneeling donor toward the Virgin and Child, who occupy the upper register. On the right, Saint Francis of Assisi stands beside a cross. The composition is arranged in two tiers: below, the human world and the saints who intercede for it; above, the heavenly sphere. This division conveys the idea that saints act as go-betweens linking the faithful with the divine, a theme common in devotional altarpieces.
The work is an oil on canvas from 1542 by Moretto da Brescia. It is recorded in the church of San Giuseppe in Brescia in 1630, and in 1868 it moved to its present home, the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo in the same city. Its history shows how many altarpieces changed location over the centuries while keeping their devotional purpose.
- Painter
- Moretto da Brescia
- Date
- 1542
- Dimensions
- 290 × 174 cm
- Museum
- Tosio Martinengo Gallery, Brescia
- Genre
- religious art
- Depicts
- boy, Mary, woman, Christ Child
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